Return to Colombo

Returning to Colombo I have spent three days resting within air conditioned confines of guest houses but have snuck out to have a walk around the park - and found huge numbers of bats roosting in the trees 0_0 as well as white cranes hunting for insects in the flooded grass!! The viharamahadevi park is centrally located and has elements of beauty about it which makes it worth a walk around, such as; elegant fronded palms, linear fountains/ponds which light up in the evening, a road safety park so that students can be walked around a miniature set of roadways and signs, ok the last is not beautiful but interesting ;)
All along the southern railings of the park you can find local artists and their work tied to the rails - it is vibrant, colourful and catches the eye - I found myself crossing the street just to be nearer and get a better view of some of the outstanding works on display (Some seem to be copies of famous works but for the most part they are original oil works on canvas) this is a better gallery than the art museum and you get to meet the painters themselves!! Take your time and enjoy and maybe if not on a world tour buy one to take home, I know that I would have…
I decided to spend my last night in Colombo at the ‘Grand Oriental Hotel’, which overlooks the main harbour of Colombo. It has wonderful views of the docks from the 4th floor. I watched in awe over lunch as a HUGE commercial cargo ship was moved into the dock through the combined efforts of its captain and the accompanying tug. It was a graceful manoeuvre carried out with meticulous care as the ship was moved into the side of the dock alongside two other HUGE vessels inch perfectly, while at the same time one vessel departed and a queue could be seen lining up out to sea waiting for their turn - It is a vibrant port full of commerce and energy with each ship taking no longer than 1 hour to settle into its dock top begin loading/unloading cargo. Brilliant. It would appear that Sri Lanka has a booming economy and its port is expanding with new docks under construction here as well as the newly developed port in the South near Galle. Clearly it is a country on the rise.
Over the last 3 days it has begun to rain every evening after a hot fine days - and when I say rain I mean bucket down for hours!! It always starts around 4-5pm and lasts for 3-4 hours with continuous heavy rainfall mixed with flashes of lightning accompanied by booming thunder rolling across the sky - on several occasions the thunder and lightning occurred simultaneously, lighting up the room, tracing shadows of the furniture through the closed curtains and opaque windows!! Nice weather for ducks ;)
Due to fly with Cathay Pacific on the 27th Nov to Singapore so hope the weather is clear :)